Indiana University Athletics
DiPrimio Notes: Heat Is On, And Penix Jr. Loves It
11/24/2020 12:00:00 PM | Football
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The heat will come for Michael Penix Jr.
Indiana's redshirt sophomore quarterback wouldn't want it any other way.
"At the quarterback position, you have to be poised," he says. "You have to be calm. You have to control everything that is going on on the offensive side of the ball.
"I cannot show that I am rattled. If I do, that sends a message to the rest of the offense that you do not want to have."
Penix sent a national message last Saturday at No. 3 Ohio State (491 passing yards, 5 touchdowns), and it left its mark around college football, and on the best basketball player on the planet, LeBron James, who tweeted praise about Penix's "amazing touch."
"I try to play my best and deliver strikes every time I get the opportunity," Penix says. "I know I have great playmakers. If I put the ball in the air, one of them is going to get it. I really believe in them and trust them. I have to play and have fun."
Penix leads the Big Ten in passing yards (1,561) and touchdown passes (14).
He directs the Big Ten's second-best scoring offense (34.0 points to Ohio State's 45.3) and second-best passing attack (312.2 yards)
"It just comes with preparation," he says about his comfort level. "All the work I put in in the offseason.
"Going home (to Florida), training with my coaches, being here, making sure that I am studying the film. Just understanding, knowing the play, knowing the play call and truly understanding what is going on.
"It helps me be more aware throughout the game. It comes slower to me so I can be able to read the field and understand the timing of the play and the progression that I have to go through.
"You have to make sure you stay on your craft and make sure you study the playbook and know everything that is going on so you can go out there and execute at a high level."
****
The loss to Ohio State dropped IU three spots to No. 12 in both the AP and Coaches' Polls.
The Hoosiers (4-1) have a chance to start a new winning streak Saturday at home against Maryland (2-1).
Head coach Tom Allen's message to the team is clear -- play four quarters of its best football.
"It's going back to your foundation," he says. "Going back to the core principles and what you believe of how you have gotten to this point as a player, as a program, as a coach and stay true to that.
"Even though we did not accomplish our goal on Saturday, that does not alter the process that we go through to recreate what we want on game day, which is a win.
"So, bottom line is that we are still in that quest for four quarters of our best football. That has not happened yet and it is going to happen. Our goal is it happens on Saturday against Maryland."
****
COVID-19 issues caused Maryland to cancel its last two games, against Ohio State and Michigan State. IU is hoping Saturday's game will be played.
Maryland resumed all football activities on Monday
"I would say business as usual and we will adjust, if necessary," Allen says. "But, everything we have been given to this point is we are expecting to play."
The Terrapins have beaten Penn State and Minnesota, and lost to undefeated Northwestern.
They have a strong offense (27.7 points a game) behind quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, the younger brother of Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. He completes 67.4 percent of his passes for 770 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions.
"He is really good," Allen says. "A very talented quarterback. Very impressed with him.
"He has got a quick release, makes good decisions. He can run it and throw it. Very elusive.
"Any time a quarterback can beat you with his arm and his legs, it is a big concern. We have to do a tremendous job of containing him."
Tailback Jake Funk is second in the Big Ten in rushing, averaging 112.0 yards a game, and 7.8 yards a carry. Maryland has two big-play receivers in Dontay Demus (17 catches, 228 yards, 2 touchdowns) and Rakim Jarrett (12 for 213 yards and 2 TDs).
"This skill level has been elite," Allen says, "and that is no different this year."
****
IU rocked Ohio State with a series of big plays by multiple players.
No one rocked harder than receiver Ty Fryfogle, who became the first Big Ten player to ever have consecutive 200-yard receiving games.
He earned his second-straight conference offensive-player-of-the-week award with seven catches for 218 yards and three touchdowns against the Buckeyes. His TD catches were from 63, 56 and 33 yards
In his last three games, he has 25 catches for 560 yards and six touchdowns. The yards are the most in program history in a three-game span.
Can the Hoosiers have the same kind of big-play success against Maryland?
"Each week is a new challenge," offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan says. "This week is a different defense structurally and personnel.
"We are trying to be explosive. We want to throw the ball down the field. Sometimes defenses allow you to do that. Other times they make you throw underneath. You have to be mindful of that and take what the defense gives you."
****
Forget bend, don't break defense.
That's not the Indiana way. Not under Allen and defensive coordinator Kane Wommack.
They will pressure and attack. They will blitz, disguise coverages and put the heat on relentlessly.
Allen and Wommack have always preferred an aggressive approach, but haven't always had the talent and experience to make it work.
They do now.
"This is such a personnel driven league, what you have to stop and who you have to take away," Wommack says. "At the same time, we know we are always going to try to affect the quarterback and the passing game."
In the past, Wommack says, IU blitzed while playing man-to-man coverage. Now, it mixes a variety of zone coverages because it has the players to do it.
"We play more vision-oriented coverages, and some cover two windows and cover three windows, and that is really what we have been able to do all season long.
"Our ability to 'pressure' while still playing some base coverages on the back end has changed us, in terms of our production, both in takeaways and negative plays and sacks."
Playing zone enables defensive backs to see the ball and make a play on it as opposed to man to man, where the main focus is on the receiver.
Allen calls it finding, "What can we do to take the next step as a program in terms of being able to gain an advantage schematically and structurally and just in the things that we are doing to give our guys the best opportunity for success.
"We've always been an aggressive style of defense. That is not going to change, but at the end of the day it is kind of more the way we are structuring the back end. The type of coverages we are playing have changed in terms of just the precision of those coverages
"Any time you can get your eyes on the quarterback and see the ball released, it increases the chances of those takeaways."
****
IU rattled Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields as perhaps no team ever has.
The Hoosiers sacked him five times, pressured him almost non-stop and intercepted him three times.
Those were his first interceptions of the season.
Still, with eight missed sacks and 13 missed tackles last Saturday, IU wants more.
"We missed eight opportunities for sacks," Allen says. "That is just mind blowing.
"You've got to give (Fields) credit for being a physically talented young man, but just from angles, to wrap up, to finish, to all those different things, you cannot let a quarterback like that get out when you got a chance to get those negative plays in those situations."
As for Tagovailoa on Saturday, Allen says, "You've got another dual guy coming up that is going to put a lot of pressure on our defense."
****
The priority is clear – IU's running game can't duplicate the minus-1-yard effort it produced against Ohio State.
You'd better believe Sheridan knows it.
"I wish it was one thing," he says. "If it was, then we would address it and move forward.
"I told the offensive staff, principles are set in stone, but methods are not. There are things we can do fundamentally, schematically, formationally, to be more creative and create better angles and leverages for our players so we can have a better run game.
"We are open to that. We are exploring any and all options."
The Hoosiers rank 13th in the Big Ten in rushing, at 76.0 yards a game. Only Michigan State, at 73.8 yards, is worse.
That's with a pair of talented tailbacks in Stevie Scott III (a 2,000-yard-plus career rusher) and Sampson James.
Sheridan says his job is to fix it.
"That is my responsibility," Sheridan says. "It falls on my shoulders to make sure we are putting our players in the best position to be successful."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The heat will come for Michael Penix Jr.
Indiana's redshirt sophomore quarterback wouldn't want it any other way.
"At the quarterback position, you have to be poised," he says. "You have to be calm. You have to control everything that is going on on the offensive side of the ball.
"I cannot show that I am rattled. If I do, that sends a message to the rest of the offense that you do not want to have."
Penix sent a national message last Saturday at No. 3 Ohio State (491 passing yards, 5 touchdowns), and it left its mark around college football, and on the best basketball player on the planet, LeBron James, who tweeted praise about Penix's "amazing touch."
"I try to play my best and deliver strikes every time I get the opportunity," Penix says. "I know I have great playmakers. If I put the ball in the air, one of them is going to get it. I really believe in them and trust them. I have to play and have fun."
Penix leads the Big Ten in passing yards (1,561) and touchdown passes (14).
He directs the Big Ten's second-best scoring offense (34.0 points to Ohio State's 45.3) and second-best passing attack (312.2 yards)
"It just comes with preparation," he says about his comfort level. "All the work I put in in the offseason.
"Going home (to Florida), training with my coaches, being here, making sure that I am studying the film. Just understanding, knowing the play, knowing the play call and truly understanding what is going on.
"It helps me be more aware throughout the game. It comes slower to me so I can be able to read the field and understand the timing of the play and the progression that I have to go through.
"You have to make sure you stay on your craft and make sure you study the playbook and know everything that is going on so you can go out there and execute at a high level."
****
The loss to Ohio State dropped IU three spots to No. 12 in both the AP and Coaches' Polls.
The Hoosiers (4-1) have a chance to start a new winning streak Saturday at home against Maryland (2-1).
Head coach Tom Allen's message to the team is clear -- play four quarters of its best football.
"It's going back to your foundation," he says. "Going back to the core principles and what you believe of how you have gotten to this point as a player, as a program, as a coach and stay true to that.
"Even though we did not accomplish our goal on Saturday, that does not alter the process that we go through to recreate what we want on game day, which is a win.
"So, bottom line is that we are still in that quest for four quarters of our best football. That has not happened yet and it is going to happen. Our goal is it happens on Saturday against Maryland."
****
COVID-19 issues caused Maryland to cancel its last two games, against Ohio State and Michigan State. IU is hoping Saturday's game will be played.
Maryland resumed all football activities on Monday
"I would say business as usual and we will adjust, if necessary," Allen says. "But, everything we have been given to this point is we are expecting to play."
The Terrapins have beaten Penn State and Minnesota, and lost to undefeated Northwestern.
They have a strong offense (27.7 points a game) behind quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa, the younger brother of Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. He completes 67.4 percent of his passes for 770 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions.
"He is really good," Allen says. "A very talented quarterback. Very impressed with him.
"He has got a quick release, makes good decisions. He can run it and throw it. Very elusive.
"Any time a quarterback can beat you with his arm and his legs, it is a big concern. We have to do a tremendous job of containing him."
Tailback Jake Funk is second in the Big Ten in rushing, averaging 112.0 yards a game, and 7.8 yards a carry. Maryland has two big-play receivers in Dontay Demus (17 catches, 228 yards, 2 touchdowns) and Rakim Jarrett (12 for 213 yards and 2 TDs).
"This skill level has been elite," Allen says, "and that is no different this year."
****
IU rocked Ohio State with a series of big plays by multiple players.
No one rocked harder than receiver Ty Fryfogle, who became the first Big Ten player to ever have consecutive 200-yard receiving games.
He earned his second-straight conference offensive-player-of-the-week award with seven catches for 218 yards and three touchdowns against the Buckeyes. His TD catches were from 63, 56 and 33 yards
In his last three games, he has 25 catches for 560 yards and six touchdowns. The yards are the most in program history in a three-game span.
Can the Hoosiers have the same kind of big-play success against Maryland?
"Each week is a new challenge," offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan says. "This week is a different defense structurally and personnel.
"We are trying to be explosive. We want to throw the ball down the field. Sometimes defenses allow you to do that. Other times they make you throw underneath. You have to be mindful of that and take what the defense gives you."
****
Forget bend, don't break defense.
That's not the Indiana way. Not under Allen and defensive coordinator Kane Wommack.
They will pressure and attack. They will blitz, disguise coverages and put the heat on relentlessly.
Allen and Wommack have always preferred an aggressive approach, but haven't always had the talent and experience to make it work.
They do now.
"This is such a personnel driven league, what you have to stop and who you have to take away," Wommack says. "At the same time, we know we are always going to try to affect the quarterback and the passing game."
In the past, Wommack says, IU blitzed while playing man-to-man coverage. Now, it mixes a variety of zone coverages because it has the players to do it.
"We play more vision-oriented coverages, and some cover two windows and cover three windows, and that is really what we have been able to do all season long.
"Our ability to 'pressure' while still playing some base coverages on the back end has changed us, in terms of our production, both in takeaways and negative plays and sacks."
Playing zone enables defensive backs to see the ball and make a play on it as opposed to man to man, where the main focus is on the receiver.
Allen calls it finding, "What can we do to take the next step as a program in terms of being able to gain an advantage schematically and structurally and just in the things that we are doing to give our guys the best opportunity for success.
"We've always been an aggressive style of defense. That is not going to change, but at the end of the day it is kind of more the way we are structuring the back end. The type of coverages we are playing have changed in terms of just the precision of those coverages
"Any time you can get your eyes on the quarterback and see the ball released, it increases the chances of those takeaways."
****
IU rattled Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields as perhaps no team ever has.
The Hoosiers sacked him five times, pressured him almost non-stop and intercepted him three times.
Those were his first interceptions of the season.
Still, with eight missed sacks and 13 missed tackles last Saturday, IU wants more.
"We missed eight opportunities for sacks," Allen says. "That is just mind blowing.
"You've got to give (Fields) credit for being a physically talented young man, but just from angles, to wrap up, to finish, to all those different things, you cannot let a quarterback like that get out when you got a chance to get those negative plays in those situations."
As for Tagovailoa on Saturday, Allen says, "You've got another dual guy coming up that is going to put a lot of pressure on our defense."
****
The priority is clear – IU's running game can't duplicate the minus-1-yard effort it produced against Ohio State.
You'd better believe Sheridan knows it.
"I wish it was one thing," he says. "If it was, then we would address it and move forward.
"I told the offensive staff, principles are set in stone, but methods are not. There are things we can do fundamentally, schematically, formationally, to be more creative and create better angles and leverages for our players so we can have a better run game.
"We are open to that. We are exploring any and all options."
The Hoosiers rank 13th in the Big Ten in rushing, at 76.0 yards a game. Only Michigan State, at 73.8 yards, is worse.
That's with a pair of talented tailbacks in Stevie Scott III (a 2,000-yard-plus career rusher) and Sampson James.
Sheridan says his job is to fix it.
"That is my responsibility," Sheridan says. "It falls on my shoulders to make sure we are putting our players in the best position to be successful."
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